RIM says Apple claims about BlackBerry unacceptable

Apple appears to be deliberately distorting the issues surrounding the iPhone 4's antenna design by asserting that Research In Motion's BlackBerry has similar reception problems, RIM said.

"Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable," RIM co-Chief Executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie said in a statement emailed late Friday.

"Apple's claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public's understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple's difficult situation."

Since the June 24 launch of the iPhone 4, some users have reported drastically reduced signal strength when they held the touch-screen phone a certain way, leading to dropped calls.

In response to the complaints Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said Friday the entire smartphone industry shared such reception problems, naming specifically Research in Motion, Samsung Electronics and HTC Corp.

At a rare, 90-minute press conference, Jobs maintained there were no problems with the iPhone 4's wraparound antenna design and accused the media of trying to "tear down" a company that had grown so successful.

"This is life in the smartphone world. Phones aren't perfect. Most every smartphone we tested behaved like this," Jobs said.